.church Pre-Register Domain - .church Domain Information

MISSION
The mission of the .church registry is to allow for the diversity of churches, congregations, denominations, and ministries of religion to exist within a clearly delineated and trusted Internet namespace.

PURPOSE
As an established leader of innovation within the Christian church worldwide, Life Covenant Church, Inc. (LifeChurch.tv) seeks to establish the .church registry with the primary purpose of serving other churches. LifeChurch.tv has proven resources and a demonstrated history of cooperation with, openness to, and service to existing churches and ministries. LifeChurch.tv believes the .church registry to be a logical next step in its coordinated approach to serving as many other ministries and people as possible. Furthermore, as an established church and nonprofit organization, LifeChurch.tv is uniquely positioned to understand the needs and concerns of the registry's intended audience.

About LifeChurch.tv
LifeChurch.tv has a strong worldwide brand, established during nearly 17 years of continued operations. LifeChurch.tv is one of the largest Christian churches in the United States, with headquarters and 11 physical locations in Oklahoma, four physical locations in other states, and arguably the strongest online presence of any Christian church worldwide. As of this writing, LifeChurch.tv averages more than 40,000 people in attendance at its physical locations each weekend, and more than 100,000 additional individuals connecting with its Church Online ministry each week. In total, the church offers 143 weekly services between physical locations and Church Online. Through NetworkChurches.tv (network.lifechurch.tv), 125 independently operated churches use free video teaching from LifeChurch.tv on a weekly basis.

LifeChurch.tv also licenses, free of charge, its ministry materials and teaching resources through its "Open" website (open.lifechurch.tv), which as of this writing is serving more than 100,000 church leaders who download over 80,000 resources per month.

LifeChurch.tv supports humanitarian causes and ministry initiatives through partnerships with nonprofit organizations around the world. By providing funding, resources, and additional ministry support, the church offers relief and restoration with a focus on empowering individuals. (Please visit lifechurch.tv/causes/partners for a complete list.)

LifeChurch.tv is recognized as a leader in innovation and the use of technology in religious settings. The global church, academic institutions, and the press look to LifeChurch.tv as an established expert in this area. In addition to speaking at conferences, universities, roundtables, and events like TEDx, LifeChurch.tv leaders have appeared in media outlets including Face the Nation, the Washington Post, TechCrunch, CNN, NPR, CBC, Fast Company, Le Point, and more.

One of the most significant digital efforts launched by LifeChurch.tv is the free online and mobile Bible, YouVersion. The goal of the site and app is to make the Bible freely available to as many people as possible, no matter where they live in the world or what language they speak. YouVersion has an established website (YouVersion.com) which as of this writing is serving an average of more than 1,300,000 unique monthly visitors. Also as of this writing, the Bible App™, a free software application based on YouVersion, offers almost 300 Bible versions in more than 140 languages, is available for most mobile platforms, and so far has been installed on more than 47 million unique devices. The reach of YouVersion is global, with availability in app stores around the world and volunteers serving to translate the native app interface, community communication, support documentation, and more. Countries other than the United States currently make up more than 75% of the total installs of the Bible App.

Through initiatives like YouVersion and Church Online, LifeChurch.tv has developed an extended online community on top social media platforms. For example, as of this writing, YouVersion has more than 1.5 million Likes on its Facebook page, and @YouVersion has more than 150,000 followers on Twitter. YouVersion has a vibrant, active community of users engaging and interacting with the Bible (and with each other) through YouVersion's various online and in-app communication channels.

LifeChurch.tv also developed ChurchMetrics (ChurchMetrics.com), a tool freely provided to churches worldwide to allow them to track any data they choose through secure logins, and view their results online or via mobile device. As of this writing, ChurchMetrics serves more than 12,800 churches and over 18,000 unique users.

In January of 2012, LifeChurch.tv launched the Church Online Platform, a free tool that allows churches to build, design, and host their own online video streaming presence. As of this writing, nearly 2,000 churches have been approved to download the platform software, and are connecting with 58,500 users registered globally.

As an established leader of innovation within the Christian church; a reputation of service to the worldwide church; and a large social and online following; LifeChurch.tv is uniquely qualified to serve other churches through operating the .church registry.

Benefits to Registrants

LifeChurch.tv has a demonstrated history of partnering with other churches to equip them with tools and to provide resources, connections, and relationships that can help them more effectively and efficiently reach others with their respective messages. The .church registry will provide many potential benefits to registrants:

• The .church registry will provide clarity not presently available with existing TLDs. Churches are common entities all over the world. Currently they must absorb this common distinction into their existing domain name, regardless of the TLD they are able to secure (lifechurch.tv, firstchurch.com, kensingtonchurch.org, etc.). With the introduction of the new gTLD program by ICANN, this level of duplication will no longer be necessary. The .church registry would create a commonly understood standard for more uniform, logical identification. The results (life.church, first.church, kensington.church) would provide clarity not only in URLs but also in other applications, such as email addresses.
• The .church registry will eliminate the need for churches to conform to the limitations inherent in the nature of existing TLDs. These limitations include but are not limited to the following:
o Available TLD options do not accurately reflect the non-commercial, nonprofit nature of churches, evidenced by the fact that many choose .COM and .BIZ TLDs to represent their organizations;
o Churches restrict their opportunities to achieve a global reach and identity when they choose ccTLDs; and
o Churches are not able to adequately distinguish the services they provide from the missions and purposes of other, dissimilar organizations when they choose .INFO, .ORG, or .NET TLDs.
• The .church registry will equip registrants with greater choices in the domain name market by creating a segment which is targeted solely towards churches, congregations, and ministries.
• The creation of the .church registry could allow search engines to optimize results for content and URLs, potentially driving more Internet users to their domains, thus increasing their reach and helping them expand their message.

In summary, the .church registry will allow the registrants to more clearly communicate and connect their missions and purposes with Internet users, resulting in increased trust, connectivity, and utilization.

Benefits to Internet Users and Others
Internet users will benefit from the .church registry in some of the same ways that they presently benefit from existing TLDs, such as .GOV for governmental services and .EDU for educational entities; that is, a .CHURCH domain clearly communicates the intent, purpose, function, and structure of the entity or organization operating it.

Internet users and others will benefit from the multitude of features that the .church registry will implement as a part of the new gTLD program. These features shall include but will not be limited to:
• Rights Protection - The .church registry will implement the Trademark Claims Service, a Sunrise period, as well as multiple dispute resolution procedures (UDRP and URS), to protect not only the rights of intellectual property owners, but also to ensure Internet users that a registered domain is authenticated to the name which it carries. (More specific details about these protections are presented in the response to Question 29.)
• Enhanced WHOIS - The .church registry will make available easy web access for searchable Thick WHOIS data for general public use. The .church registry will also implement random selection of new and existing domains for WHOIS validation to increase accuracy of WHOIS data. This will make it easier not only for individuals and organizations to look up the valid owners of domains, but also to reliably explore available possibilities for desired new domains.
• Geographic Protection - The new gTLD program provides for protection of geographic names within Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement. The .church registry will expand these protections with additional measures. (Specific details about these protections are presented in the response to Question 22.) These measures will allow both individuals and organizations to secure domain names that are tied to their physical locations, and to protect the brand and intellectual properties that they may associate with those locations.

Areas of Specialty
The .church registry's primary area of specialty will be to provide meaningful domain names to churches. Because "church" is already a term widely understood around the world as "an organization composed of people with similar religious beliefs," LifeChurch.tv anticipates the .church registry will become a de facto standard for references to churches across the Internet. LifeChurch.tv foresees that, as the entire Internet community adapts to the new gTLDs, the adoption and growth potential for targeted TLDs will increase.

LifeChurch.tv has a demonstrated history of partnering with other churches within the Christian faith. Although the .church registry's largest emphasis within a market focus will be churches of the Christian faith, the .church registry will be more broadly available to churches, congregations, and denominations of all faiths. The .church registry shall be operated in the public or common interest of all and shall avoid the restrictions or exclusivity that would accompany a community TLD defined by a particular belief system, expression of faith, geographic location, or other segment.

The .church registry embraces Article 18 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

Service Levels and Reputation
LifeChurch.tv has partnered with Neustar, Inc. to provide back-end registry services for the .church registry. The selection of Neustar means that the .church registry will benefit from more than a decade of expertise and experience in TLD registry operations. LifeChurch.tv and Neustar are committed to together meeting or exceeding all defined service levels for availability and performance as set forth in Specification 10 of the Registry Agreement.

LifeChurch.tv is strongly committed to earning and maintaining the public's trust through financial stability, accountability, and transparency, as demonstrated by our accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Accountability (ECFA). The ECFA (ecfa.org) is an independent accreditation agency that requires adherence to strict standards in areas including governance, compliance, financial oversight, and transparency.

LifeChurch.tv has an established reputation among churches as a partner committed to helping other churches reach their goals of communicating their respective messages to their intended audiences. LifeChurch.tv intends to extend that same reputation into its execution of the .church registry, providing direction to assist churches in clearly establishing their presence(s) online. LifeChurch.tv has purposefully built generosity into a cornerstone of its culture, offering YouVersion.com, Open, ChurchMetrics, and the Church Online Platform to others at no cost. The .church registry will actively pursue this same cultural value of generosity through providing low-cost registrations. As a nonprofit entity itself, LifeChurch.tv understands the unique challenges facing nonprofits and will seek to maintain a cost basis as low as possible, while at the same time allowing for the continued investment in and operation of the .church registry.

Reputation is critical to building public trust, especially with the launch of the bold new gTLD program and all subsequent TLDs. LifeChurch.tv will seek to forge its reputation as a trusted and responsive Registry through:
• Providing a published single point of contact for Law Enforcement, Governments, and the public related to malicious and abusive conduct.
• Enforcing an Acceptable Use Policy. (The specific details about this policy are presented in the response to Question 28.)
• A commitment to coordinate with Law Enforcement by meeting its obligations under Section 2.8 of the Registry Agreement, which requires the .church registry to take reasonable steps to investigate and respond to reports from law enforcement and governmental and quasi-governmental agencies of illegal conduct in connection with the use of its TLD.
• Complying with dispute resolution mechanisms for Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) and the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP). (More specific details about these protections are presented in the response to Question 29.)
• Incorporating rights protection mechanisms to ensure the protection of intellectual property owners. Although UDRP does not require an active role by the .church registry, we will monitor UDRP decisions and respond proactively to implement those decisions or to contact the offending registrant. Under Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), the .church registry is committed to locking a domain within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of the complaint from the URS provider. (Again, more specific details about UDRP and URS policies and guidelines are presented in the response to Question 29.)

Registration Policy
The .church registry shall establish appropriate policies to ensure it is reflective of the ICANN core value to operate in a manner which provides for operational stability, reliability, security, and global interoperability. The below sections describe the .church registry's intended registration policies:
• The .church registry registration policies will seek to create a registrant base of churches, congregations, denominations, and ministries, as well as the organizations and entities who provide products or services to them. Registrations will not be restricted on the basis of beliefs; however, all registrants shall agree that they are (a) an organization composed of people with similar religious beliefs ("Churches"), or that they (b) provide products and/or services to groups of people with religious beliefs ("Service Providers").
• Registrants may not register geographic names that are reserved as described in Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement or reserved on the .church registry's Geographic Names Protection List. (Please refer to the response to Question 22 for additional information.)
• All registrants will be subject to WHOIS accuracy. LifeChurch.tv shall, on its own initiative, no less than twice per year, perform a manual review of a random sampling of domain names to test the accuracy of the WHOIS information. LifeChurch.tv shall also, on its own initiative, review a random monthly sample of new domain names to test the accuracy of the WHOIS information.
• Registrants shall agree not to infringe on the property rights of third parties. Registrants shall commit to the proceedings under ICANN's UDRP and URS.
• Registrants shall agree to the .church registry's Terms of Acceptable Use.

Privacy or Confidential Information of Registrants
LifeChurch.tv shall make every reasonable effort to protect and secure confidential information of the registrants. LifeChurch.tv has partnered with Neustar, Inc. to provide back-end registry services for the .church registry. The selection of Neustar means that the .church registry will benefit from more than a decade of expertise and experience in TLD registry operations. LifeChurch.tv and Neustar are committed to implement reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access or misuse of registrants' information, but cannot guarantee that this information will never be disclosed in a manner inconsistent with its Privacy Policy, particularly when it occurs as a result of unauthorized acts by third parties in violation of applicable law(s). The .church registry shall develop and publish a Privacy Policy committing to not share personal information, registration information, or intellectual property information without consent unless (1) needed for Registry operations, transactions, and security, (2) the Registry has reason to believe that the domain is being used in the commission of a crime or in violation of Registry policy, or (3) as required by law or in coordination with legal proceedings.

WHOIS Terms of Use
LifeChurch.tv shares registration information with the public in the form of WHOIS records, as required by ICANN. The .church registry shall provide a WHOIS web inquiry tool. This tool shall include Terms of Use, to which the user performing the inquiry must agree as a part of the submission of their WHOIS inquiry. The WHOIS Terms of Service shall limit the use of the WHOIS data for lawful purposes and shall expressly prohibit the use of WHOIS data for mass unsolicited electronic or voice commercial advertising.

Outreach and Communications
A .church registry market focused on churches is sustainable, with recorded estimates of 335,000 religious congregations in the United States alone, 552,000 in Africa, and approximately 3.7 million houses of worship globally. The .church registry will allow for a viable market to be created with the potential to create competition with other namespace markets. LifeChurch.tv has built a geographically diverse following within the Christian church community, including more than 1.6 million connections through social media and more than 10,000 churches utilizing a variety of LifeChurch.tv's resources. It is LifeChurch.tv's intention to use its existing standing within church circles to assist other churches in establishing their presences online. LifeChurch.tv will draw from its strength and expertise in building online community to create a similar community with the .church registry. The .church registry will also invest in building and expanding awareness in other areas through a variety of media and communication channels, including church leadership events, denominational publications, faith-sponsored publications, and online advertising.

As a nonprofit entity with a strong global name and mark, LifeChurch.tv has firsthand experience with the effort required to manage a brand and ensure that it remains strong. The .church registry will provide registrations as close to cost as possible for its intended audience. LifeChurch.tv does not intend the .church registry to serve as a profit-based enterprise—rather, as a service to other churches and organizations that serve ministries. Believing that registration auctions would increase complexity and raise fees unnecessarily, multiple applications for a particular domain will be resolved based simply on a first-come, first-served basis. This approach seems to best fit the needs of our intended registrants, while aligning with our desire to provide the lowest costs to end-users.

LifeChurch.tv is confident that the .church registry will receive a favorable response from registrants when it becomes available. To maintain a simple, consistent, and equitable pricing model, LifeChurch.tv does not anticipate offering introductory and/or bulk purchasing discounts. The cost analysis included within this application is structured to balance a low cost to the registrant while ensuring sufficient funding for the continued operation of the Registry. The .church registry has no intention of seeking increases beyond what is required to sustain inflationary rates. However, it is beyond the control of the .church registry to account for market and economic forces; therefore, LifeChurch.tv does not intend to make contractual commitments regarding future price escalations.

Life Covenant Church, Inc (LifeChurch.tv) is committed to protecting geographic names as required in Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement and based on the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) "Principles regarding new gTLDs." The .church registry will continually review GAC communiqués and advice submitted to the ICANN board. GAC communiqués and advice shall be taken into consideration when creating and implementing policies for the .church registry.

Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement provides for the protection of geographic names by:
1. Reserving all names formed with two-character labels from initial registration within the .church registry and allowing for their release only after reaching an agreement with the applicable government and country-code manager.
2. Reserving all names contained within the following internationally recognized lists of country and territory names; (i) the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, (ii) the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and (iii) the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Names contained within these internationally recognized lists maybe released only after appropriate approval from the applicable government, review from the GAC, and approval by ICANN.

The .church registry will extend protection for geographic names by incorporating a Geographic Names Protection Time Period (GNPTP). The GNPTP shall (1) allow the GAC to identify geographic names of significance; (2) allow governments, public authorities, or IGOs of country's participating in the GAC to identify geographic names of significance; (3) be available for a period of no less than 60 days; (4) occur prior to other registrations. Names submitted during the GNPTP shall be reviewed by LifeChurch.tv for inclusion at its discretion on the Geographic Names Protection List (GNPL). Names included on the GNPL will not be made available for registration. Names included on the GNPL shall remain unavailable for registration until such time as the entity which identified the geographic name for inclusion during the GNPTP provides written notice to the .church registry that the protected name may now be registered.

The .church registry shall provide a single point of contact to facilitate the reporting of potential abuses of registrations including geographic names. Upon being notified of a potential abusive registration the .church registry shall within a reasonable time review the registration for compliance with .church registry policies and respond accordingly. The .church registry's policies shall prohibit a registrant from misrepresenting itself in any form including that of a government, or public authority.

A large number of churches, congregations, ministries, and associated service providers are focused on the needs of a particular people in a geographic area. Furthermore a large number of local and regional ministry alliances exist to unify outreach efforts and provide dialogue between churches, congregations, and ministries. These registrants identify themselves many times by incorporating or solely utilizing a geographic name for their registrations. The .church registry believes this to a valid use of a geographic name within a registration.